Prof Ian Naismith Sneddon FRS FRSE FIMA OBE (8 December 1919 Glasgow, Scotland – 4 November 2000 Glasgow, Scotland) was a Scottish mathematician who worked on analysis and applied mathematics.

Life

Sneddon was born in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

on 8 December 1919, the son of Mary Ann Cameron and Naismith Sneddon. He was educated at Hyndland School in Glasgow. He studied mathematics and physics at the

University of Glasgow , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

, graduating with a BSc. He then went to the University of Cambridge, gaining an MA in 1941. From 1942 to 1945, during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, he served as a Scientific Officer to the Ministry of Supply. After the war he worked as a Research Officer for H H Wills Laboratory at the

University of Bristol , mottoeng = earningpromotes one's innate power (from Horace, ''Ode 4.4'') , established = 1595 – Merchant Venturers School1876 – University College, Bristol1909 – received royal charter , type ...

. In 1946, he began lecturing in Natural Philosophy (physics) at the University of Glasgow. In 1950, he received a professorship at

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. In 1956, he returned to the University of Glasgow as Professor of Mathematics. In 1958, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. His proposers were

Robert Alexander Rankin Robert Alexander Rankin FRSE FRSAMD (27 October 1915 – 27 January 2001) was a Scottish mathematician who worked in analytic number theory. Life Rankin was born in Garlieston in Wigtownshire the son of Rev Oliver Rankin (1885–1954), minister ...

Philip Ivor Dee Philip Ivor Dee CBE FRS FRSE (8 April 1904, Stroud – 17 April 1983, Glasgow) was a British nuclear physicist. He was responsible for the development of airborne radar during the Second World War. Glasgow University named the Philip Ivor Dee M ...

William Marshall Smart William Marshall Smart (9 March 1889, Doune, Perthshire – 17 September 1975, Lancaster) was a 20th-century Scottish astronomer. Life He was born in Doune in Stirlingshire the son of Peter Fernie Smart and his wife, Isabella Marshall Harrowe ...

and Edward Copson. He won the Society's Makdougall-Brisbane Prize for the period 1956-58. In 1983, he was further elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of London The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

. He retired in 1985, and died in Glasgow on 4 November 2000.

Family

In 1943, he married Mary Campbell Macgregor.

Research

Sneddon's research was published widely including: * with

Nevill Mott Sir Nevill Francis Mott (30 September 1905 – 8 August 1996) was a British physicist who won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1977 for his work on the electronic structure of magnetic and disordered systems, especially amorphous semiconductors. ...

: Wave mechanics and its applications, 1948 * Fourier transforms, 1951 * Special functions of mathematical physics and chemistry, 1956 * Elements of partial differential equations, 1957 * with James George Defares: An introduction to the mathematics of medicine and biology, 1960 * Mixed boundary problems in potential theory, 1966 * Lectures on transform methods, 1967 * with Morton Lowengrub: Crack problems in the classical theory of elasticity, 1969 * The use of integral transforms, 1972 * The linear theory of thermoelasticity, 1974 * Encyclopaedic dictionary of mathematics for engineers and applied scientists, 1976 * The use of operators of fractional integration in applied mathematics, 1979 * with E. L. Ince: The solution of ordinary differential equations, 1987

Awards and honours

Sneddon received Honorary Doctorates from

Warsaw University The University of Warsaw ( pl, Uniwersytet Warszawski, la, Universitas Varsoviensis) is a public university in Warsaw, Poland. Established in 1816, it is the largest institution of higher learning in the country offering 37 different fields of ...

(1873), Heriot-Watt University (1982)

University of Hull , mottoeng = Bearing the Torch f learning, established = 1927 – University College Hull1954 – university status , type = Public , endowment = £18.8 million (2016) , budget = £190 million ...

(1983) and

University of Strathclyde The University of Strathclyde ( gd, Oilthigh Shrath Chluaidh) is a public research university located in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded in 1796 as the Andersonian Institute, it is Glasgow's second-oldest university, having received its royal chart ...

(1984).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sneddon, Ian Naismith Fellows of the Royal Society Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Scientists from Glasgow 1919 births 2000 deaths 20th-century Scottish mathematicians